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fable

The legend of Stellar, the silver-haired girl, is as ancient as gravity.

Oppress, a supernatural being, was envious of Stellar and the light she created. Since the beginning of time, Oppress had been cast into darkness. He was bitter. Maybe being bitter is why he was thrown into darkness. Or perhaps the darkness caused him to be bitter. No one is certain.

It is certain that he trapped Stellar’s psychic energy and she grieved. She cried and he caught her tears in a vast jar which he placed at the farthest edge of the world. As time passed he watched her suffer. The more the girl languished the more overwhelmed Oppress became. The jar was eventually grown over with lichen and moss which concealed the luminescence of the tears within.

Ultimately, Oppress began to tire and no longer wanted to stand vigil over Stellar. He made a bargain with her: If he released her, Stellar would forever give up spinning light. She would thus be content with the light she had already spun.

Yet, this is how the organ of the universe played. On the day that Oppress freed her, Stellar broke open the jar of tears and scattered them throughout the emptiness. Everyplace a tear landed a brilliant star formed. Until this day, those same stars hear the wishes of children and the hopes of the lost.

The silver-haired girl remains free but Oppress still lingers in darkness having never quite recovered from his malicious stunt.

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Brenda Bishop Blakey

081612

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Written February 24, 2012

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Process Notes: I wrote the story as a contest submission to the Flash Fiction Chronicles String of 10 contest for 2012. Alas, my humble story did not win. Here are the instructions and the prompt words.

The String-of-10 Contest challenges writers to choose four out of ten prompt words and use them in a story of 250 or fewer words, and an aphorism is provided for inspiration but does not need to be used in the story. The prompt words for String-of-10 FOUR were: JAR — MOSS — GRAVITY — EDGE — CAST — STAND — ORGAN — TIRE — BITTER — WAGE. The aphorism was:“Freedom is a possession of inestimable value.” — Marcus Tullius Cicero

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Here is the link to the winning story: http://www.everydayfiction.com/when-elliot-let-go-by-troy-farah/